Ronald Stuart Thomas Poems

Ronald Stuart ThomasRonald Stuart Thomas (29 March, 1913 – 25 September, 2000) (published as R. S.
Thomas) was a Welsh poet and Anglican clergyman, noted for his nationalism,
spirituality and deep dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. He was the best
known Welsh poet of his day.
In 1955, John Betjeman, in his introduction to the first collection of Thomas’s
poetry to be produced by a major publisher, Song at the Year's Turning,
predicted that Thomas would be remembered long after Betjeman himself was
forgotten. Kingsley Amis, in 1956 said of Thomas’s work that it "reduces most
modern verse to footling whimsy." On the other hand, Philip Larkin in letters
referred to him as "Arsewipe Thomas."
Professor M. Wynn Thomas said: "He was the Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Wales
because he was such a troubler of the Welsh conscience. He was one of the major
English language and European poets of the 20th century."